Waiting for Ethan by Diane Barnes

Waiting for Ethan is a charming book that I would happily pass on to my mother – who likes her romances fluffy and happy, heavy on romance and light on sex. My only real problem with it is a typical one of debut novels – Barnes ends the book before it is finished. I kept punching my Kindle for the next page, hoping for a happily ever after coda a bit stronger than the one provided. Nonetheless, it’s a sweet and short read – only took me a few hours to enjoy.

The premise is a bit convoluted – Gina’s best friend’s grandmother fancied herself a psychic and told Gina she would marry a man named Ethan someday. So, since age 14, Gina has been waiting to meet and subsequently marry a man named Ethan. As a human who believes that we all have responsibilities to make choices rather than sit back and let the universe take care of us – man alive did Gina frustrate me. All of her internal whining (the book is first person) made me want to smack her. I did end up rooting for her to find that Ethan, though, so Barnes did her job.

I’d classify this one more as a general fiction with romantic elements because the primary journey was an internal one and not external. Gina had to learn who she was before she could find her happily ever after. Perhaps if we got more of the eventual love story, I’d reclassify it, but for now, it stays as is.

Overall, I’d pick this up if you like stories where the heroine is a bit of an idiot but then isn’t and one where she learns to trust her backbone. Enjoy it with a Diet Coke and call it a day.

~*~

Further Reading:

If you like stories that involve psychics and the like and you haven’t seen the show The Mentalist then I’d highly recommend it.